Shipping in soya meal to the Clyde helps to feed Scotland's livestock

The arrival this week of one of the biggest ever consignments of animal feed into Glasgow docks was good news for Scottish livestock farmers according to Andrew Mackay, managing director of importing firm Cefetra.

Speaking yesterday as part of the 65,000 tonnes of South American soya bean meal was being unloaded, he said that, as the main animal feed importing company in the UK, Cefetra endeavoured to reduce transport costs as much as possible.

As the giant dockside crane emptied the hold of the merchant vessel Atalanta, he commented: "This is the most efficient method of importing bulk foodstuffs. It avoids the costs of transhipping and by bringing bulk ship loads right up into Glasgow it is much closer to our customers in Scotland.

"Farmers in Scotland are getting the advantage of animal feed at world prices rather than having to be disadvantaged through being at one corner of Europe."

Cefetra, which operates with a team of traders in their Glasgow headquarters, last year handled more than two million tonnes of feedstuffs from all over the world, with a turnover of more than 430 million. It does not sell directly to Scots farmers but supplies all the animal feed manufacturers north of the Border.

Watching the ship being unloaded, Billy Davidson, from Davidsons Animal Feeds, Shotts, confirmed Mackay's view that the company's presence in Scotland was a boon to livestock producers north of the border.

"Before they set up a base in Scotland, we had to bring raw materials up from Liverpool or Immingham. It was an expensive exercise then and I hate to think what it would cost with today's road haulage charges."